Regional silence on Zim crisis 'loud'

"At the very least they can issue a condemnation of the brutality and torture, and urge the Zimbabwe government to take action against the police," said Brian Raftopoulos, a Zimbabean academic and curently African affairs specialist at the South African-based Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.

"The silence from the region and SADC [Southern African Development Community] on the situation in our country is loud," said a bitter Jacob Mafume, coordinator of Crisis in Zimbabwe, a coalition of more than 300 civil society organisations.